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Deltamethrin usage near bees.

Our house is covered with box elder bugs this year and I wish to treat them in some capacity, otherwise they are in the house the whole winter. I have a single hobby hive about 30-40 feet from one end of the house. My wife brought home a couple of bottles of insecticide (1% deltamethrin) that attach to the garden hose and are diluted out while you spray the house. The package insert says"highly toxic to bees exposed to direct treatment or residues on blooming crops or weeds". There are very few flowers blooming in the foundation flower beds at this time of the year, the first frost should be in the next few weeks. If I spray the house at dusk, no wind, do you think it will be safe enough? Have you any other thoughts? Thanks. Karl

Re: Deltamethrin usage near bees.

That's the best you can do. I've had to use pyrethroids (same chemical class as deltamethrin) in the garden a few times this year the same way with little/no harm to the bees (hives are only 20-50ft away).

The bugs are just looking for a place to hibernate so try to spray the whole house if you want it to be as effective as possible--vents, soffits, and eaves are common places for the bugs to enter as well as between siding pieces. Chances are you already have some in the house so don't expect to not see any this winter on a warm, sunny day.

Are you sure they are box elder bugs (red and black colored true bugs--hemipterans)? Here they just hide out in the maple leaf mulch I make in the fall--non-native stink bugs play the house invading role here. I just ignore them but enjoy making the first fire in winter! They like to hide in the chimney/insert. Same goes for the first grill lighting in spring.

Re: Deltamethrin usage near bees.

Thanks for the feedback. Pretty certain they are box elder bugs, they are especially thick this year. Yesterday I looked at our roof in an area where one roof line meets the overhanging portion of another roof and they were so thick I initially thought it was a swarm of bees. I expect to see plenty in the house this winter but would like to knock them down to a tolerable number. Having them fly by while watching TV in January and February eventually becomes quite annoying, especially when they walk around on the screen. Karl